Wednesday, July 20, 2016

People may be sensitive or insensitive. Remarks may be sensitive or insensitive. But when people start getting ‘outraged’ over a figure of speech, this ‘sensitivity’ thing becomes rather absurd.

It wasn’t too long ago when a major section of the Indian population laughed out loud while watching a sequence from the film 3 idiots(the sequence, later referred to as - Balatkaar Speech). This was somewhere in December 2009(hasn’t been THAT long).

I am sure even at that point; there might have been some who believed this sequence was insensitive. Thankfully though, there wasn’t an ‘OUTRAGE’. There weren’t protests. There weren’t any summons to the script-writer by the NCW. Sigh… a time when there still was at least SOME semblance of common sense.

Try pulling off something like that TODAY!

People no longer seem to be able to distinguish between figures of speech, jokes or statements intended to be hurtful/insensitive/disrespectful.

It is expected of role models (rolls eyes) / public figures / senior officials to be careful/sensible and avoid the use of potentially offensive (politically incorrect) words/phrases. Fair enough. BUT is it too much to expect the general public to be sensible as well?!

I loved the film. Will try and get the book (I already have a huge list of To-Read Books. So this will have to wait a bit).

Impeccable production value. Direction is absolutely beautiful and the performances (barring one) are brilliant. Whoever decided to cast Jeremy Irons as Anthony Royal deserves a medal! Well done, mate!

As much as I enjoy watching James Purefoy being an arrogant snob, I couldn’t help feeling that his performance as John Pangbourne was hammed and didn’t blend well with the screenplay. Thankfully, that doesn’t take away too much from this otherwise perfect film.

Monday, July 11, 2016

For a lot of people, reduced office hours during Ramadan is a welcome change.

For me (and perhaps a few others), it isn’t something that I look forward to. I still have the same amount of work (best case scenario) that needs to be completed in a shorter time-span. To make matters more frustrating, this time around the Quarter-end was during the month of Ramadan!

There were days when I didn’t have time even to check out the news feed! This was probably the first time that I paid my bills a day after receiving the notification!

I did make a short trip to Bombay in June (Yes, there was a need). There was a need of spending some time in sophisticated, civilised company. Thank you Surya.

It didn’t matter if it would be for a few hours or at most for a day. At times, one just needs to be able to have an intelligent conversation with a sensible individual. Personality traits that are becoming increasingly rare!

Travelling for the holidays would be fun for a lot of people. Not for me. The thought of a crowded airport is absolutely revolting (and Kuwait airport is sure to be jam-packed during the holidays). I am not very fond of ‘people’ in general and travelling during holidays becomes a chore for me which I would prefer to avoid. I will travel (holiday or not) ONLY IF there is a need to.

So, instead of travelling, I decided to take a break in Kuwait itself. Figured my family deserved a break. So even though Eid holidays were spent at home, I did set up a break for the weekend preceeding the Eid holidays.

Had reserved the Royal Villa at the Hilton Resorts. Everything from the reservation to the check-out was seamless. The staff (reception, room-service, housekeeping, spa, Teatro) was polite and professional. The property itself was well-maintained and well stocked.

I was told that the food was delicious (I have absolutely no sense of taste when it comes to food). The only thing I can comment on (about the food) is that there was plenty to choose from.

In between splashing around in the pool and walking along the beach, I did manage to get in a few hours of work as well (someone has to pay the bills).